Ahmet Esat Uras (1882–1957) was a perpetrator of the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...

who later wrote ''The Armenians in History and the Armenian Question'' (1950), an apologist work which has been described as "the ur-text of Turkish denialist 'scholarship'".

Biography

Uras was a senior official in the

Committee of Union and Progress The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى جمعيتی, translit=İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti, script=Arab), later the Union and Progress Party ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى فرقه‌سی, translit=İttihad ve Tera ...

"directorate for public security", heading the "Armenian bureau" due to his ability to read the

Armenian language Armenian ( classical: , reformed: , , ) is an Indo-European language and an independent branch of that family of languages. It is the official language of Armenia. Historically spoken in the Armenian Highlands, today Armenian is widely spoken t ...

. In this capacity, he played a key role in planning and executing the

. Uras was likely the chief editor of '' The Armenian Aspirations and Revolutionary Movements'', published in early 1916, in which the Ottoman government attempted to justify its policies towards Armenians. In May 1916, he went to Aleppo and personally coordinated deportations of the remaining Armenians. In the Republic of Turkey, he joined the

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party ( tr, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, , acronymized as CHP ) is a Kemalist and social-democratic political party in Turkey which currently stands as the main opposition party. It is also the oldest political party ...

and served as a backbench MP for

Amasya Amasya () is a city in northern Turkey and is the capital of Amasya Province, in the Black Sea Region. It was called Amaseia or Amasia in antiquity."Amasya" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th e ...

for decades. He also participated in the

Turkish Historical Society The Turkish Historical Society ( tr, Türk Tarih Kurumu, TTK) is a research society studying the history of Turkey and the Turkish people, founded in 1931 by the initiative of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, with headquarters in Ankara, Turkey. It has been ...

Writings

By 1950, Uras was one of the last surviving Unionist leaders. He published ''The Armenians in History and the Armenian Question'' ( tr, Tarihte Ermeniler ve Ermeni Meselesi), probably in reaction to Stalin's post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

territorial claims on Turkey. According to Turkish historian

Doğan Gürpınar Doğan Gürpınar is a Turkish historian whose work focuses on the late Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey. He is employed by Istanbul Technical University Istanbul Technical University ( tr, İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, commonly referr ...

, the book was "a new and comprehensive synthesis" of older Unionist claims and apologetics; it also built on Uras' personal experiences. Gürpınar sees the book as "the intermediary connecting two historical eras and two different modes of denialism", the latter being that which developed after 1973. The book has been described as "the ur-text of Turkish denialist 'scholarship'", since it established many of the tropes and narratives that would be used in later works that denied the genocide. According to

Donald Bloxham Donald Bloxham FRHistS is a Professor of Modern History, specialising in genocide, war crimes and other mass atrocities studies. He is the editor of the ''Journal of Holocaust Education''. He completed his undergraduate studies at Keele and post ...

, the book is "the canonical text of Turkish nationalist historiography on the Armenians". The book has been widely criticized for misrepresenting sources and exaggerating Armenian rebelliousness. Historian Dikran Kaligian states that Uras' work is the main source for those historians who argue that the

Armenian Revolutionary Federation The Armenian Revolutionary Federation ( hy, Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութիւն, ՀՅԴ ( classical spelling), abbr. ARF or ARF-D) also known as Dashnaktsutyun (collectively referred to as Dashnaks for short), is an Armenian ...

fomented a civil war on behalf of Russia. This "provocation thesis" aims to justify the genocide by asserting that Armenians provoked their own persecution. Kaligian states that Uras' book is an unreliable source that "is replete with mistranslations and distortions as well as key omissions", for example mistranslating a speech by

Vahan Papazian Vahan Papazian ( hy, Վահան Փափազյան; 1876–1973), also known by his pseudonym Goms (Կոմս) was an Armenian doctor, politician, political activist who was one of the leaders of the Armenian national liberation movement. He was the ...

and omitting the passages that contradict Uras' argument.

References

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Uras, Esat 1882 births 1957 deaths Deniers of the Armenian genocide Armenian genocide perpetrators People from Amasya People from the Ottoman Empire